Lol "EARNING" isn't real in a game with a RNG like destiny, in my opinion each exotic drop should be exclusive to a certain game mode and chances of getting it are lower, that would be earning your exotics, but right now you can be doing a bounty in crucible and have played the game for 2 hours as a level 20 and end up getting an exotic drop. I feel like early game players earn more of their exotics because when you have one level 30 and every other character is below twenty you have to wait a few weeks to get the coins for xur and even getting a character to level 30 all depends on luck.